


Silence

by Mersheeple



Series: Hearts&Cauldrons Prompts [46]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, HEA, Mute Severus Snape, Severus Snape Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:47:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25607602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mersheeple/pseuds/Mersheeple
Summary: He lived in a silent tortured world and hated every second of it...well, almost.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Series: Hearts&Cauldrons Prompts [46]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805746
Comments: 9
Kudos: 79





	Silence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Morbidmuch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morbidmuch/gifts).



> MM, I loved this prompt...thank you so much for giving me the chance to write this story! <3

It was oppressive, this silent tortured world he lived in. Every night he closed his eyes to visions of snakes attacking and friends dying and he wanted to scream and cry and break things. But he could not scream. The only thing that had ever made him beautiful, the voice he had cultivated for years, had been stolen from him by the Dark Lord’s snake. He felt impotent without it. He felt insignificant and broken and weak.

Without his voice his magic was…not weaker exactly but somehow less. Less accurate perhaps. He wasn’t sure what happened between the snake and his brain. His wordless magic had never been a problem before but now, in the silence, it didn’t work properly.

He tried basic spells to start with. _Lumos_ , _Wingardium Leviosa_ …first year spells that had never been a problem before. His _Lumos_ was too pale and sputtered out the moment he stopped putting all his power into it. His _Wingardium Leviosa_ lifted things by inches but not for long. It was humiliating. The last time he had tried a simple Summoning charm he had been hit in the head by a multitude of items from the same direction as the item he wanted. His Patronus was a wispy light that faded like a cloud and dissipated into nothing. He had no capability for magic with a wand any longer. Merlin forbid someone should attack him for, this time, there would be no Shield to protect him, nor curse to retaliate.

At least his potions were still perfectly brewed. He wasn’t completely useless. He no longer struck fear in the hearts of the students but he was still able to silence them with a look. His robes still billowed and he still had a commanding presence. He just couldn’t tell people how he was feeling any more. Or that they were being complete morons. It was another frustrating thing that the silence caused.

He hated the silence. It made him angrier, more pained. The one thing he didn’t hate completely about the silence was her. Hermione Granger. She had returned to Hogwarts before him, taking her NEWTs while the school was still being rebuilt. She had stayed afterwards as his Apprentice. She somehow seemed to know what he needed without words.

She would sit with him for hours, reading journals aloud to him and offering her own opinions when he could not offer his. She tried to find ways of approaching the subject of his silence, potions or charms or spells that perhaps could help him. It made him angry. Didn’t she think he would have tried that if he could? They lapsed back into silence again, another stifling, oppressive silence. A silence he wanted to break but knew he could not.

She still sat with him, the silence engulfing them after she had read to him. One night, after the silence again became oppressive and all-encompassing, she stood to leave, offering him a sad little smile before she took a breath, standing on her tiptoes to brush a kiss against his lips. The silence became stunned and then he kissed her back, pulling her to him as he deepened the kiss and she moaned softly. She pulled away and smiled shyly, promising to come back the next night.

The snake made him silent. She left him speechless.


End file.
